大象传媒

My two sons were aged 4 and 7 old when the war began. My husband and brother in law were in the navy. My brother in law had lied about his age stating that he was 19 instead of 17. This meant he was posted abroad, resulting in him being captured and held as a japanese prisoner of war camp for three and a half years. It was hard being seperated from my husband but you just got on with things. I lived in Hendon and worked in a pub half-time. If I hadn't I would have had to work in the shipyards and with two young children to bring up i preferred to be around for them. I remember my husband making me get my photo taken with the children as he said he was the only one in his barracks without a photo of his family. I hated the constant sound of the air raid sirens and not being able to get a full night's sleep in case they went off. We had a shelter in the back garden, but there was also an underground shelter underneath the local playing field which i wouldn't use. I preferred to us the shelters above the ground in case you got trapped. Hendon was bombed a lot during the war and you could see the lights from the bombs and the fires it left behind further up the coast.
I remember a street near to where i lived was bombed badly, however the row of houses where i lived seemed to withstand the constant down pour, however my chandelier and stained class windows were destroyed.
During the war you and your neighbours looked out for each other, you had to. you never knew what was going to happen or if you would see your loved ones again.
My borhter in law told me a story about when he was in the prison camp. He said that him and some other prisoners were made to stand in a circle and singsongs. If they did this the officers were had them a sugar stick. He went on to tell me that unbeknown to the japenese officers, they would change some of the words and be calling them, but because their English wasn't very good they didn't know it was being done.

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